ExxonMobil accounts for $3.5 billion in EBR sales, impact study says

The ripple effect of ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge area operations has led to more than 26,800 jobs in East Baton Rouge parish, $3.5 billion in sales and $1.3 billion in earnings.

ExxonMobil released a report Wednesday outlining its impact on the state and local economy. The company hired retired LSU professor Loren Scott to conduct the economic impact study, which covered operations at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery, Chemical Plant, Plastics Plant and Polyolefins Plant, along with its Port Allen Lubricants Plant, for 2014 and 2015.

Those facilities employ more than 6,800 people and have an annual payroll of $491 million. The refinery has nearly 3,500 employees and contractors, making it the largest manufacturing employer in Louisiana. The chemical plant has nearly 2,400 employees and contractors, and is the second-largest manufacturing employer in the state.

One out of every eight jobs in metro Baton Rouge can be traced back to ExxonMobil.

The plant paid $33.2 million in direct property taxes in 2015, accounting for 7.8 percent of all property tax revenue in the parish. Direct sales taxes accounted for $26.3 million and indirect sales taxes generated $34.3 million. The estimated total of $93.8 million in tax payments to parish government is equal to the amount the parish collected in sales tax revenue for the first half of 2015.

Over the past three years, ExxonMobil has averaged about $1 billion annually in capital investment at its local plants. The work has supported more than 4,500 direct construction jobs and workforce of 2,500 employees.

In the past decade ExxonMobil has paid more than $1 billion in local and state taxes (after credits and rebates).

ExxonMobil and its employees have contributed nearly $5 million to local nonprofit organizations and schools. The company generates more contributions to the Capital Area United Way than any other business.